Sports facility improvements possible with Prop 8

Thousands of Broken Arrow athletes have honed their skills at the city's four sports complexes-Arrowhead, Indian Springs, Nienhuis Park, and Challenger.

If voters approve Proposition 8 of the 2026 Build Our Future BA General Obligation Bond, sports enthusiasts will see significant improvements to these facilities that are used by Broken Arrow Girls Softball, Broken Arrow Adult Softball Club, Broken Arrow Youth Baseball, Broken Arrow Soccer Club, and Broken Arrow Youth Sports, among others.

Watch City Manager Michael Spurgeon discuss the latest with the 2026 General Obligation Bond Package and specifically why a temporary 0.5% dedicated sales tax is the best method for improving the city's four major sports complexes on The Vibe podcast.

City Manager Michael Spurgeon says sports are a "big deal" in Broken Arrow.

"We need these sports facility improvements because we want our kids to have amazing, safe places to play," Spurgeon said. "We also want easy access in and out when you either drop the kids off for practice or go there for games or tournaments."

Director of Engineering and Construction Charlie Bright presented the Proposition 8 Sports Facility Improvements list of projects and their costs to the Broken Arrow City Council on Jan. 6. Unlike Propositions 1-7, which do not affect taxes, Proposition 8 adds a 0.5% temporary sales tax for five years, dedicated to city sports complexes. If approved in April, it is projected to raise $53 million.

"When you sell a bond, a lot of times voters don't see a project get underway for a number of years," Bright said. "A lot of times, especially when you are talking about projects for the youth, the parents vote for it, but their kids never get to use it."

But this plan allows the city to begin working on these improvements immediately. Bright said the city's timeline for completing the projects includes:

• Summer 2026 procure design consultant.
• Fall 2027 design out for bid.
• Construction begins in late 2027 and would take 12-18 months to complete all four sports complex facility improvements concurrently.

Spurgeon added that, by taking this innovative approach, the children of the parents who support Proposition 8 will be able to use those facilities in approximately three years.

"If voters approve the temporary sales tax, the city will borrow funds for all of the sports facilities improvements and use the approved sales tax to repay the debt," Spurgeon said.

In so doing, the city would borrow approximately $53 million, with $46,245,000 in estimated project costs and $5,663,000 in estimated debt service. A loan would allow the city to begin design and construction of the facilities quickly and to get all projects underway simultaneously.

The improved sports facilities will give Broken Arrow residents better playing opportunities and also help local sports organizations attract more teams from outside the region to participate in tournaments.

Sports tourism is a rapidly growing sector of the travel industry, encompassing travel for the purpose of observing or participating in sporting events with significant economic impacts for destinations in terms of lodging, retail, and restaurants.

With a temporary sales tax, facility-improvement costs are shared by visitors to the city's sporting events. A 2025 Forbes article titled "Why Sports Tourism is Winning Right Now" says that the sports tourism market is expected to grow 17.5 percent from 2023 to 2030, making it one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors.

Spurgeon says these planned upgrades are based on 2.5 years of conversations with the organizations using these complexes. And these improvements, which address the needs they've expressed, are essential for Broken Arrow's athletes to excel.

"If anyone has been to our facilities, it's been a number of decades since they've had any major upgrades or improvements to their facilities, especially at Indian Springs Sports Complex and Arrowhead Softball Complex," Spurgeon said.